In late 2016, the American Concrete Institute released their new publication titles “308R-16 A Guide to external Curing on Concrete.”
The guide in short reviews and describes the best practices, procedures, materials and methods for the external curing of concrete. The publication provides guidance for specifying curing procedures on site. This is a document which all management should be aware within main contracting companies.
The documents also provides new research which was never been seen before, as well as offering new methods of curing. The guide takes different types of construction into consideration, so every party who use concrete can relate to the document, some topics also include internal curing, curing at elevated temperatures, sustainability, curing of moisture-sensitive flooring, and new curing monitoring techniques.
Curing is the process in which the concrete is protected from loss of moisture and kept within a reasonable temperature range. The result of this process is increased strength and decreased permeability. Curing is also a key player in mitigating cracks, which severely impacts durability
With this being said, it is important that every party involved is educated to a certain level before working with the material.
The materials, processes and quality control measures / inspections described in the recent publication, should be tested, monitored or performed by qualified operatives only, according to the ACI.